Mac OS X Server 10.2: Editing Apache configuration files

Experienced Apache administrators can use these notes on editing Apache's configuration files to work with features of the Apache web server that are not included in Server Settings.

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When Apache starts on Mac OS X Server, it uses a customized /etc/httpd/httpd.conf, which differs significantly from the httpd.conf distributed with Apache and the httpd.conf that resides on Mac OS X computers. This customized file contains some global directives, then includes httpd_macosxserver.conf. When you use Server Settings to configure Web service, httpd_macosxserver.conf is the file that is updated.

To edit Apache configuration files manually:

When making global configuration changes in httpd.conf or httpd_macosxserver.conf, observe the comments in these files. The comments indicate what is safe and unsafe to modify.

When making virtual-host-specific changes in httpd.conf or httpd_macosxserver.conf, follow the guidelines that appear at the top of these files. The guidelines describe how to avoid conflicts with Server Settings.

If you install software updates, your /etc/httpd/ folder may contain configuration files that are not valid for Mac OS X Server. For example, httpd.conf.default, httpd.conf.old, mime.types.default, and mime.types.old. Only the following files, located in /etc/httpd/, are used to configure Mac OS X Server Web service: httpd.conf, httpd_macosxserver.conf, mime.types, mime_macosxserver.types, and tomcat.conf.